This morning, I listened intently to the California governor, Benedict Arnold Schwarzenegger, deliver the State of the State address and found it the most pointless address by a sitting California governor in recent memory.
More painful than reading the prepared 11 minutes in remarks was listening to it.
There were no proposals.
There was nothing to get both sides back together to hammer out a real budget, not the smoke and mirrors variety that both Democrats and Republicans have hammered out over the last 10 years.
It was a C-movie type of speech.
I really would have liked to hear Gov. Benedict Arnold propose a total overhaul of how California taxes its citizens.
I really would have liked to hear Gov. Benedict Arnold say that he will simply let the state fall off the precipice if the clowns in the legislature do not find a serious way to resolve the budget crisis.
I really would have liked to hear Gov. Benedict Arnold say that there is hope in California. Not just pass the buck to the Democrats in the state legislature. That he will lead with real, common-sense approaches to the problems in not just the state budget, but the way that California is governed.
An example would have been for Gov. Benedict Arnold to find five areas of the state budget that could either be cut or eliminated entirely.
Show some leadership.
BE UNPOPULAR!
It is mind-numbing to have heard a nothing speech given by a sitting governor that went to Sacramento on the white horse of reform only to be rejected and giving up. Had Gov. Benedict Arnold learned anything in his infamous special election and defeat of reform proposals it should have been this. Go back to the drawing board. Take on what you believed to be the most pressing of the reform issues and beat it into the ground like a dead horse. Change people's minds. But, he chucked any of that and simply became former Gov. Gray Davis-with a personality.
What leads to this fact in the upcoming 2010 elections.
Whoever the Republican gubernatorial nominee is will have to run against the Democrats and Gov. Benedict Arnold. He or she will have to admit that Gov. Benedict Arnold showed no leadership and skills when it counted. And give voters a reason why he or she would be different. And, if defeated not to give up but dust them self up and try again.
In 2011, I want to hear a Republican governor, God willing, give a real speech about leadership. About making really tough and yes, unpopular choices. About reforming a broken state tax system. About the fact that government can not continue to grow unchecked. About the need to get business rolling again in this once great, Golden state.
Because we sure as hell did not hear that speech today by the current, "Republican" governor.
3 comments:
Didn't your last governor make some unpopular decisions that led to his recall Righty? Be careful what you wish for pal. You may be trading The Governator for Nancy Pelosi. Go Nancy!
Nancy couldn't win anywhere but in the pachouli drenched pit of ignorance by the bay. Arnold is giving California just what it deserves. This state has been in meltdown mode for years, and who did we pick to address a growing crises? An actor with no experience in running a state. If he had thought even half as much as Ronald Reagan, who had executive experience and had been political active for decades before he became governor of California, it might have helped.
But he's no thinker. He's a door knob.
Don't blame me. I voted for Tom McClintock.
The governor's speech was nothing more than pap and a regurgitation of the milk toast ideas he's infamous for.
There was no substance. No real solutions and an ostrich like resignation. He doesn't have any intestinal fortitude and lacks even the most basic courage. His speech was the football equivalent of a punt. God forbid he should take any responsibility and lead.
A real leader would have told the people of California the facts.
1) The fat cats in Sacramento have been on a spending spree for the past 10 years throwing money at everything from each legislators pet programs to feathering the retirements of public employees.
2) That all non essential state programs should be cut or eliminated.
3) That all government agencies (except for public safety) should have to reduce their staffs by 10% immediately and in six months if we are still in crisis, by another 10%.
4) The bloated and wasteful school systems should have reductions in staff and that class sizes should increase to cover the smaller number of teachers available. Class size is not the problem, lack of discipline and control of the students is the problem.
5) All non essential public works projects should be put on hiatus until a budget is passed.
6) The state shall issue no new bonds except for essential projects that protect the publics health and safety.
7) User fees should be charged to use public areas and facilities that serve only a small portion of the populace and those fees either cover the cost of those facilities or they are mothballed.
8) Public pensions are to be brought in line with retirement plans in the private sector. No more sweetheart deals that only cement the public employee unions more strongly to the entrenched pols in Sacramento.
9) And for good measure, once a legislator is termed out they are not allowed to serve on any paid government board or commission for at least ten years. It's time these people went out and made an honest living.
Oh, and don't blame me either, I voted for McClintock as well.
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